When do you use mla formatting

This is a specific way to cite, following the Modern Language Association's guidelines. There are other styles, such as APA format and Chicago citation style , but MLA format is often used for literature, language, liberal arts, and other humanities subjects.

This guide extensively covers this format but is not associated with the organization. The Modern Language Association Handbook is in its 9th edition and standardizes the way scholars document their sources and format their papers. When everyone documents their sources and papers in the same way, it is simple to recognize and understand the types of sources used for a project. Readers of your work will look at your citations not only to understand them but possibly to explore them as well.

This is done by creating an MLA citation. Depending on the type of information you're including in your work, you may place citations in the body of your project and in a works-cited list at the end of your project.

The handbook explains how to create MLA citations. There is also a section below on a recommended way to create an MLA header. Check with your instructor on whether they prefer a certain MLA format for the header. The 9th edition is the most recent and updated version for MLA citations. Released in April , the citation format differs slightly from previous versions.

This update follows the update for the 8th edition that contained many significant changes from previous editions. For the 8th edition, the biggest difference and most exciting update was the use of one standard format for all source types.

In previous versions, scholars were required to locate the citation format for the specific source that they used.

There were different formats for books, websites, periodicals, and so on. After , using one universal MLA citation format allowed scholars to spend less time trying to locate the proper format to document their sources and focus more on their research. For example, books contain chapters, albums contain songs, and journals contain journal articles. The source is the larger work, such as a website, while the container is a smaller work within that source, such as a short story on the website.

Social media pseudonyms and usernames can replace the real name of the author. Lowercase seasons when using them in the date field of a citation spring not Spring You may have heard the two terms, "Bibliography" and "Works Cited" thrown around interchangeably.

The truth is that they are two different words with two completely different meanings. A bibliography is a list of sources that the writer recommends for further reading. A works-cited list is a list of sources that were included in the author's writing. Want to suggest some books and websites to your reader?

Create an MLA format bibliography by creating a list of full citations and label the page as "Bibliography. Did you use any quotes or place any paraphrases in your writing?

Create in-text citations and place them in the body of your work. Then, create a list of full citations and place them at the end of the project. Label the page as "Works Cited. The good news is that references in MLA bibliography format and regular works-cited lists are structured the exact same way.

When adding information to your project from another source, you are required to add an MLA citation. There are two types of MLA format citations: in-text citations and full citations. MLA citing format often includes the following pieces of information, in this order:. Author's Last name, First name. For more information about each individual element and for proper formatting rules, see the sections below on author names, titles, containers, names of other contributors, source versions, numbers, publishers, publication dates, and locations.

Find more in-depth rules regarding the works-cited list in MLA format on the page down below, along with a sample page. The author's name is generally the first item in a citation unless the source does not have an author. The author's name is followed by a period. If the source has one author , place the last name first, add a comma, and then the first name.

If your source has two authors , place them in the same order they're shown on the source. The first author is in reverse order, add a comma and the word "and", then place the second author in standard form. Follow their names with a period. For three or more authors , only include the first listed author's name.

Place the first author's name in reverse order Last name, First name place a comma afterwards, and then add the Latin phrase "et al. For social media posts, it's acceptable to use a screen name or username in place of the author's name.

Start the citation with the user's handle. No author listed? If there isn't an author, start the citation with the title and skip the author section completely. Citations do not need to always start with the name of the author. When your research focuses on a specific individual that is someone other than the author, it is appropriate for readers to see that individual's name at the beginning of the citation.

Directors, actors, translators, editors, and illustrators are common individuals to list at the beginning. Again, only include their name in place of the author if your research focuses on that specific individual. To include someone other than the author at the beginning of the citation, place their name in reverse order, add a comma afterwards, and then the role of that individual followed by a period.

Fimmel, Travis, performer. Created by Michael Hirst, History Channel, Gage, John T. SIU Press, If you're citing a source in its entirety, such as a full book, a movie, or a music album, then place the title in italics.

If you're citing a source, such as a chapter in a book, a song on an album, or an article in a journal or website, then place the title of the piece in quotations and add a period afterwards. Follow it with the title of the full source, in italics, and then add a comma.

This second portion is called the container. Containers house smaller works, such as songs, in larger comprehensive works, such as albums. Wondering what to do with subtitles? Place a colon in between the title and subtitle.

Write both parts in title capitalization form. Nasar, Sylvia. Simon and Schuster, If the source does not have a title , give a brief description and do not use quotation marks or italics.

For email messages, the subject of the email is the title. Place this information in quotation marks. It is possible for a source to sit in a second or larger container. A journal article sits in its first container, which is the journal itself, but it can also sit in a larger container, such as a database. A song can sit in its first container, which is the album it's found on.

Then it can sit in its next container, which could be Spotify or iTunes. It is important to include the second container because the content on one container may differ from content from another container. In most cases, for the second container, only the title of the second container and the location is needed. For readers to locate the source themselves, they'll most likely use the majority of the information found in the first part of the citation.

Sallis, James, et al. ProQuest , ezproxy. Baker, Martha. Google Books , books. In MLA citing, when there are other individuals besides the author who play a significant role in your research, include them in this section of the citation. Other contributors can also be added to help individuals locate the source themselves. You can add as many other contributors as you like. Start this part of the citation with the individual's role, followed by the word "by".

Notice that when adding other contributors after a period, you capitalize the first letter of the individual's role. Gaitskill, Mary. Gospodinov, Georgi. The Physics of Sorrow. Translated by Angela Rodel, Open Letter, Sources can come in different versions. There are numerous bible versions; books can come in versions such as numbered editions , and even movies and songs can have special versions.

When a source indicates that it is different than other versions, include this information in the citation.

This will help readers locate the exact source that you used for your project. Any numbers related to a source that isn't the publication date, page range, or version number should be placed in the numbers position of the citation.

This includes volume and issue numbers for journal articles, volume or series numbers for books, comic book numbers, and television episode numbers, to name a few.

Zhai, Xiaojuan, and Jingjing Wang. ProQuest Research Library , ezproxy. Lewis, season 1, episode 2, Warner Bros. The publisher produces the source. In the citation, place the publisher before the date of publication. Include the publisher for any source type except websites when the name of the publisher is the same as the name of the website. When sources have more than one publisher that share responsibility for the production of the source, place a slash between the names of the publishers.

When including the date that the source was published, display the amount of information that is found on the source, whether it's the full date, the month and year, or just the year. If the date includes a season rather than a month, make sure to lowercase the season spring not Spring Do not capitalize the season. When multiple dates are shown on the source, include the date that is most relevant to your work and research.

The location refers to the place where the source can be found. This can be in the form of a URL, page number, disc number, or physical place. When using a direct quote or paraphrasing information from a source, add an in-text or parenthetical citation into the body of your work.

Direct quotes are word-for-word quotes pulled from a source and added to your project. A paraphrase is when you take a section of information from a source and put it in your own words.

Both direct quotes and paraphrases require an in-text or parenthetical citation to follow it. You used information from websites, articles, books, and other sources for your paper, right? Hopefully, you did, because the best research and writing projects validate claims using information from other sources.

The purpose of an in-text citation is to give the reader a brief idea about where you found the information used in your writing. When you place a line of text, word for word called a direct quote , or an idea called a paraphrase from another source into your writing, you, the writer, must display:. The major thing to keep in mind is that whichever information you include in the in-text or parenthetical citation, whether it's the author's name or the title, it needs to match the first word in the full citation.

This is an MLA parenthetical citation as the author's name is in parentheses. Author's Last Name states, "Direct Quote" or paraphrase page number. This is an MLA citation in prose as the author's name is in the prose of your sentence. If your in-text citation comes from a website or another source that does not have page numbers, use the following abbreviations:. Gregor's sister is quite persuasive, especially when she states to her parents, "It'll be the death of both of you, I can see it coming.

We can't all work as hard as we have to and then come home to be tortured like this, we can't endure it" Kafka, ch. The girl's affection towards Marley is clear when she blushes upon his arrival and shares that she would like to accompany him to the theater Tales of Times Ago The smaller the class size, the more attention a student receives, which greatly impacts learning Malcolm and Knowles Many lizards, including the Carolina anole, only eat when they're hungry.

They'll ignore food until their body sends a signal to eat Smith et al. One study shows that the average time spent on homework is 52 minutes R. Brown However, a more recent study, released in , found that the average student spends 42 minutes completing homework S.

The basic entry for a book consists of the author's name, the book title, the publisher, and the year published. The first author's name should be reversed, with a comma after the last name and a period after the first name or any middle name.

The name should not be abbreviated and should be written exactly as it appears on the title page. Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks unless otherwise prompted by your instructor. Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. Indent the first line of each paragraph one half-inch from the left margin. Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.

Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines. Use italics throughout your essay to indicate the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, provide emphasis.

If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes centered, unformatted.

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below.

Format the reaminder of the page as requested by the instructor. In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.

Double space again and center the title. Ruben, H. Title capitalization is important to style. MLA goes for header capitalization where every major word in the title is capitalized.

Also called title case, this looks like:. Gleason, Jeff. Chaos: A Look at the Stars. RedRiver, APA takes its own road.

In APA, book titles and such will only capitalize the first word. This is sometimes called sentence case:. Gleason, J. Chaos: a look at the stars. MLA puts a period at the end of all works cited entries. You might notice other little differences between these two styles on the citation page, but these will vary based on what is being cited. For example, MLA typically includes the publication date, at or near the end of the citation.

They both use a reference page at the end of the work, align entries to the left and have the title centered. But, how they format their entries is distinctly their own. MLA citations include the last name and first name and title in title case. APA citations on the other hand, include the author's last name and first initial, title in sentence case, and no period after a URL.

MLA is used for humanities and literature papers.